Martha Wells's Blog, page 125
October 25, 2013
Books - The Idylls of the Queen
I've been re-reading The Idylls of the Queen by Phyllis Ann Karr, which originally came out in 1982.
It's been one of my favorite books for a long time. It's an unusual murder mystery, set among the people of King Arthur's Court as they were written by Mallory, but it's also a fantasy, as there's no attempt to make it "realistic." Morgan Le Fay and Merlin and Dame Nimue are really sorcerers with real magic, there are magical cities under various lakes, all the crazy events described by Mallory really did actually happen, etc. The thing that is awesome about it is that Karr makes all these characters deeply flawed people with real emotions, affected and changed by these events. Nobody's all good, nobody's all bad, everyone has their own reasons for what they do, no one goes unscathed, there are consequences for everything. She's really good at taking events where the characters' actions seem nutty and inexplicable and giving them a solid emotional underpinning so they make sense in their context. And she doesn't gloss over or make any attempt to excuse Lancelot's (and other characters') many episodes of sexual violence, though those are described and not depicted explicitly.
There's a lot of characters, but the book is told in the first person by Sir Kay, who I personally liked despite his flaws. He explains who everyone is and describes the events that are the possible motivations for the murder (the deaths of Queen Morgawse and Lamorak de Galis, the May Babies, etc) as he investigates. It's colored by Kay's caustic opinions on everyone, but he's also pretty good at admitting when he's biased. The book is also a gorgeous example of worldbuilding expanding an established universe. It's like Mallory is the one dimensional version and this is 3D in an OmniMax.
I don't think Phyllis Ann Karr is well known today. She's one of those women writers of the 80s and 90s who got disappeared. Two of her other fantasies Frostflower and Thorn and Frostflower and Windbourne are dark gritty brutally real fantasy set in a world that feels almost post-apocalyptic (if they came out nowadays, someone would have to write an article (probably in the Guardian) to explain how they were written by a woman so therefore must really be fluffy romance, and all that stabbing with swords and sexual violence is imaginary, or something).
Anyway, she was a big influence on me. And I just hope that when I inevitably get disappeared (again), somebody still remembers my books like I remember hers.
***
There’s a GoodReads giveaway for the audiobook of The Wizard Hunters, which came out on Oct 21. (The Ships of Air and The Gate of Gods will both be out in November.) Five copies will be given away and it'll run until November 7.
***
I supported the kickstarter for this and now it's available online: Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond
These authors in this anthology (including Junot Diaz, Lauren Beukes, Victor LaValle, N.K. Jemisin, S.P. Somtow, Tobias Buckell, and more) have earned such honors as the Pulitzer Prize, the American Book Award, the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Bram Stoker, among others.
It's been one of my favorite books for a long time. It's an unusual murder mystery, set among the people of King Arthur's Court as they were written by Mallory, but it's also a fantasy, as there's no attempt to make it "realistic." Morgan Le Fay and Merlin and Dame Nimue are really sorcerers with real magic, there are magical cities under various lakes, all the crazy events described by Mallory really did actually happen, etc. The thing that is awesome about it is that Karr makes all these characters deeply flawed people with real emotions, affected and changed by these events. Nobody's all good, nobody's all bad, everyone has their own reasons for what they do, no one goes unscathed, there are consequences for everything. She's really good at taking events where the characters' actions seem nutty and inexplicable and giving them a solid emotional underpinning so they make sense in their context. And she doesn't gloss over or make any attempt to excuse Lancelot's (and other characters') many episodes of sexual violence, though those are described and not depicted explicitly.
There's a lot of characters, but the book is told in the first person by Sir Kay, who I personally liked despite his flaws. He explains who everyone is and describes the events that are the possible motivations for the murder (the deaths of Queen Morgawse and Lamorak de Galis, the May Babies, etc) as he investigates. It's colored by Kay's caustic opinions on everyone, but he's also pretty good at admitting when he's biased. The book is also a gorgeous example of worldbuilding expanding an established universe. It's like Mallory is the one dimensional version and this is 3D in an OmniMax.
I don't think Phyllis Ann Karr is well known today. She's one of those women writers of the 80s and 90s who got disappeared. Two of her other fantasies Frostflower and Thorn and Frostflower and Windbourne are dark gritty brutally real fantasy set in a world that feels almost post-apocalyptic (if they came out nowadays, someone would have to write an article (probably in the Guardian) to explain how they were written by a woman so therefore must really be fluffy romance, and all that stabbing with swords and sexual violence is imaginary, or something).
Anyway, she was a big influence on me. And I just hope that when I inevitably get disappeared (again), somebody still remembers my books like I remember hers.
***
There’s a GoodReads giveaway for the audiobook of The Wizard Hunters, which came out on Oct 21. (The Ships of Air and The Gate of Gods will both be out in November.) Five copies will be given away and it'll run until November 7.
***
I supported the kickstarter for this and now it's available online: Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond
These authors in this anthology (including Junot Diaz, Lauren Beukes, Victor LaValle, N.K. Jemisin, S.P. Somtow, Tobias Buckell, and more) have earned such honors as the Pulitzer Prize, the American Book Award, the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Bram Stoker, among others.
October 24, 2013
Thanks to everybody for the happy anniversary wishes! I ...
Thanks to everybody for the happy anniversary wishes! I did have a great anniversary.
links:
* One of my publishers, Angry Robot Books, is open to unagented submissions for a limited time.
***
I have a Food Drive page set up at Feeding America -- http://help.feedingamerica.org/goto/wells
When Food Stamps are drastically cut back in November, many more people are going to go hungry. Please also think about donating food to your local food banks.
Feeding America is the leading domestic hunger relief organization, with network food banks serving every state. Feeding America’s nationwide network of over 200 food banks provides food and groceries to 33,500 food pantries, 4,500 soup kitchens and 3,600 emergency shelters. This extensive network helps feed 37 million Americans each year -- delivering over 3 billion pounds of food. Each week nearly 5.7 million people receive emergency food assistance from an agency served by a Feeding America member.
Every dollar you give to this virtual food drive helps provide EIGHT meals to people served by the Feeding America network. Every $1.00 counts
links:
* One of my publishers, Angry Robot Books, is open to unagented submissions for a limited time.
***
I have a Food Drive page set up at Feeding America -- http://help.feedingamerica.org/goto/wells
When Food Stamps are drastically cut back in November, many more people are going to go hungry. Please also think about donating food to your local food banks.
Feeding America is the leading domestic hunger relief organization, with network food banks serving every state. Feeding America’s nationwide network of over 200 food banks provides food and groceries to 33,500 food pantries, 4,500 soup kitchens and 3,600 emergency shelters. This extensive network helps feed 37 million Americans each year -- delivering over 3 billion pounds of food. Each week nearly 5.7 million people receive emergency food assistance from an agency served by a Feeding America member.
Every dollar you give to this virtual food drive helps provide EIGHT meals to people served by the Feeding America network. Every $1.00 counts
October 21, 2013
Today is my and my husband's 18th wedding anniversary, so...
Today is my and my husband's 18th wedding anniversary, so yay! I'm going to spend it writing and doing laundry, but we are going out to dinner tonight.
Oh, I posted this on my Tumblr yesterday: http://marthawells.tumblr.com/post/64602833747/in-case-anybody-thinks-i-am-a-fake-geek-girl-i
Saturday we went to the Renfair, though I was still nursing a bit of a sinus headache. It was a great day, sunny and cool. We got to see both Wine and Alchemy and Circa Paleo (usually our timing is such that we only find a band when it's the last song of their set and they stop playing just as we sit down). They've been putting a lot more work into the landscaping in the past few years, and the site looked great. (The new plants got a big boost a couple of years ago when the fair nearly burned down twice during the wildfires that destroyed so much of the area; they dumped so much water on it trying to keep it from burning down, it looked like a rain forest.) There were some new buildings and new merchants, and a lot more handmade stuff. I didn't take any pictures this time but here's some older ones:
Oh, I posted this on my Tumblr yesterday: http://marthawells.tumblr.com/post/64602833747/in-case-anybody-thinks-i-am-a-fake-geek-girl-i
Saturday we went to the Renfair, though I was still nursing a bit of a sinus headache. It was a great day, sunny and cool. We got to see both Wine and Alchemy and Circa Paleo (usually our timing is such that we only find a band when it's the last song of their set and they stop playing just as we sit down). They've been putting a lot more work into the landscaping in the past few years, and the site looked great. (The new plants got a big boost a couple of years ago when the fair nearly burned down twice during the wildfires that destroyed so much of the area; they dumped so much water on it trying to keep it from burning down, it looked like a rain forest.) There were some new buildings and new merchants, and a lot more handmade stuff. I didn't take any pictures this time but here's some older ones:
October 18, 2013
The Wizard Hunters Audiobook
I've had a pretty horrible sinus headache for the past couple of days, due to all the changing weather fronts. It goes from my sinuses down into the back of my neck and is making it hard to brain, and live, and so on.
Publishing stuff:
The Wizard Hunters audiobook is coming out on this Monday, October 21, with The Ships of Air on November 4 and The Gate of Gods on November 25. All three are narrated by Talmadge Ragan.
The books were originally published in 2003-2005, right before my involuntary publishing hiatus. The main character is Tremaine, who is the daughter of Nicholas Valiarde and Madeline Denare from The Death of the Necromancer. They're all still available from the original publisher, HarperCollins, in ebook, and the page for all the Ile-Rien books is on my web site here.
And if you read Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge and liked it, or didn't like it, and if you have time and inclination, please leave a review on Amazon or B&N or wherever you bought it, or GoodReads, etc. Those reviews really do help.
Links:
* Mindy Klasky: The DARKBEAST REBELLION Post I Didn't Want to Write Mindy explains how Barnes and Noble destroyed her book's chances without even trying.
Publishing stuff:
The Wizard Hunters audiobook is coming out on this Monday, October 21, with The Ships of Air on November 4 and The Gate of Gods on November 25. All three are narrated by Talmadge Ragan.
The books were originally published in 2003-2005, right before my involuntary publishing hiatus. The main character is Tremaine, who is the daughter of Nicholas Valiarde and Madeline Denare from The Death of the Necromancer. They're all still available from the original publisher, HarperCollins, in ebook, and the page for all the Ile-Rien books is on my web site here.
And if you read Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge and liked it, or didn't like it, and if you have time and inclination, please leave a review on Amazon or B&N or wherever you bought it, or GoodReads, etc. Those reviews really do help.
Links:
* Mindy Klasky: The DARKBEAST REBELLION Post I Didn't Want to Write Mindy explains how Barnes and Noble destroyed her book's chances without even trying.
October 16, 2013
Snippet on a Rainy Day
This is a short snippet from the second Raksura novella that I'm writing. (Don't know yet when the first ebook novella will be published, or about print versions, but I'll post when I do. I'm excited about these!)
note: novellas are not full-length novels, they are basically longish short stories.
(This is set in the far past of the Indigo Cloud court. Cerise is a queen, Tranquil one of her female warriors, and Fluff is an older mentor.)
Tranquil drank the tea but picked at the fruit with the air of someone who was too worried to eat. "What do you think will happen?"
People had been asking Cerise variations on that question all evening. The only person close by was Fluff, who had his eyes closed and appeared to be sleeping while sitting up. She lowered her voice and for the first time answered honestly. "If this queen, Argent, is so rash and angry that she fights Indigo, Indigo may have to kill her to survive."
Tranquil grimaced.
Cerise continued, "Beryl and Silver will attack Indigo in a rage. I kill them, forcing Emerald Twilight to send more queens and warriors to retaliate and the two courts go to war. Or they injure me badly and because Ruby is incapacitated by her pregnancy and can't intervene, and Indigo is injured, the warriors and Arbora panic and attack Beryl and Silver and kill them."
Tranquil lifted a brow, skeptical. "The Arbora? They have more sense than that."
Fluff, without opening his eyes, said, "Arbora are perfectly capable of swarming when in a collective rage. Not unlike flightless dakti, but considerably stronger and smarter. This is why we spend a great deal of effort on not getting into a collective rage."
Tranquil twitched uncomfortably. Cerise said, "We rely on the Arbora as a calming influence, but we forget that we're related to the Fell, and that our blood now runs through the Arbora's veins."
Tranquil said, reluctantly, "What if Argent kills Indigo?"
Cerise moved her spines in resignation. "Then I kill Argent in a rage, and it all starts anyway." She shook her head. "I can't let that fight take place. If I trusted them both to fight until first injury, it would be different. But it's too great a chance to take."
note: novellas are not full-length novels, they are basically longish short stories.
(This is set in the far past of the Indigo Cloud court. Cerise is a queen, Tranquil one of her female warriors, and Fluff is an older mentor.)
Tranquil drank the tea but picked at the fruit with the air of someone who was too worried to eat. "What do you think will happen?"
People had been asking Cerise variations on that question all evening. The only person close by was Fluff, who had his eyes closed and appeared to be sleeping while sitting up. She lowered her voice and for the first time answered honestly. "If this queen, Argent, is so rash and angry that she fights Indigo, Indigo may have to kill her to survive."
Tranquil grimaced.
Cerise continued, "Beryl and Silver will attack Indigo in a rage. I kill them, forcing Emerald Twilight to send more queens and warriors to retaliate and the two courts go to war. Or they injure me badly and because Ruby is incapacitated by her pregnancy and can't intervene, and Indigo is injured, the warriors and Arbora panic and attack Beryl and Silver and kill them."
Tranquil lifted a brow, skeptical. "The Arbora? They have more sense than that."
Fluff, without opening his eyes, said, "Arbora are perfectly capable of swarming when in a collective rage. Not unlike flightless dakti, but considerably stronger and smarter. This is why we spend a great deal of effort on not getting into a collective rage."
Tranquil twitched uncomfortably. Cerise said, "We rely on the Arbora as a calming influence, but we forget that we're related to the Fell, and that our blood now runs through the Arbora's veins."
Tranquil said, reluctantly, "What if Argent kills Indigo?"
Cerise moved her spines in resignation. "Then I kill Argent in a rage, and it all starts anyway." She shook her head. "I can't let that fight take place. If I trusted them both to fight until first injury, it would be different. But it's too great a chance to take."
October 15, 2013
Cover for Emilie and the Sky World
The cover reveal for Emilie and the Sky World, the sequel to Emilie and the Hollow World
"When Emilie and Daniel arrive in Silk Harbor, Professor Abindon, an old colleague of the Marlendes, warns them that she's observed something strange and potentially deadly in the sky, a disruption in an upper air aether current. But as the Marlendes investigate further, they realize it's a ship from another aetheric plane. It may be just a friendly explorer, or something far more sinister, but they will have to take an airship into the dangerous air currents to find out. Emilie joins the expedition and finds herself deep in personal entanglements, with an angry uncle, an interfering brother, and an estranged mother to worry about as well as a lost family of explorers, the strange landscapes of the upper air, and the deadly menace that inhabits the sky world."
If I ever write Emilie as an adult and it gets made into a movie, I want Lyndie Greenwood from Sleepy Hollow to star as her.
October 14, 2013
links
We had a huge booming thunderstorm late Saturday night, with more rain on Sunday and this morning. No flooding at our house (though we had a debris line close to the garage door) but there was a lot of bad flooding in other parts of the state. (They were afraid the Colorado River was going to crest over the Congress Avenue bridge in Austin.) More to come later this week, probably.
* A follow-up to the Oatmeal Post: Seriously, Screw The Oatmeal
But again, The Oatmeal continues its habit of lionizing people who don't necessarily deserve it. Bartolomé de las Casas was probably a very good person, but he was also the father of the African slave trade in the Americans.
* Boing Boing: Amazon requires publishers to use Kindle DRM
* Robert Jackson Bennett: On women, and empathy, and con games
How weird it is that I was able to sail through high school and even college without genuinely befriending a single female. How strange it feels that I could be successful at anything without needing to socialize with them in any genuine manner, without making them a part of my life, social or professional or what have you.
I was never asked, I feel like, to consider them an equal, a peer. It certainly never occurred to me to do so.
* Austin writer Steve Niles needs help: Steve Niles House Flooded – Paypal Account Set Up To Help
* Elementary school needs help after Colorado floods: Fundraiser for Lyons Elementary School
I've heard that Red Cross donations for the flooding recovery in Colorado are 6 million below what was expected -- there's still people without power, water, etc there who need a lot of help. Red Cross
* Fantasy Art: Lauren K. Cannon
* A follow-up to the Oatmeal Post: Seriously, Screw The Oatmeal
But again, The Oatmeal continues its habit of lionizing people who don't necessarily deserve it. Bartolomé de las Casas was probably a very good person, but he was also the father of the African slave trade in the Americans.
* Boing Boing: Amazon requires publishers to use Kindle DRM
* Robert Jackson Bennett: On women, and empathy, and con games
How weird it is that I was able to sail through high school and even college without genuinely befriending a single female. How strange it feels that I could be successful at anything without needing to socialize with them in any genuine manner, without making them a part of my life, social or professional or what have you.
I was never asked, I feel like, to consider them an equal, a peer. It certainly never occurred to me to do so.
* Austin writer Steve Niles needs help: Steve Niles House Flooded – Paypal Account Set Up To Help
* Elementary school needs help after Colorado floods: Fundraiser for Lyons Elementary School
I've heard that Red Cross donations for the flooding recovery in Colorado are 6 million below what was expected -- there's still people without power, water, etc there who need a lot of help. Red Cross
* Fantasy Art: Lauren K. Cannon
October 11, 2013
Links and Audiobooks
Yesterday I answered questions for for Lisa Reneé Pitts, the narrator for the audiobook of Wheel of the Infinite. You never realize how many words you made up for a fantasy novel until you need to go over them with the audiobook narrator! She is awesome, and I'm really looking forward to the audiobook, which is coming out Dec 31.
And I posted a coupon for Barnes and Noble which is good until October 14.
links
* The Oatmeal: Christopher Columbus was Awful, But This Guy Was Not
to go with:
* Cracked.com: 6 Ridiculous Lies You Believe About the Founding of America
* Cheryl Morgan: Women in SF&F: The Cycle of Negative Feedback
So here’s what I think happens. The editors at the big publishers are probably nervous about buying SF&F by women (unless they can pass it off as YA or "Dark Fantasy") because they know how hard they’ll have to fight for such books within the company. If the books do get bought, the publicity department will be reluctant to allocate funds to them, because they think that SF&F by women doesn’t sell. When the sales staff visit the bookstore buyers, they don’t waste time pushing the SF&F books by women, because they think that they won’t sell. The note we got back from Waterstones said that in September only 6 of the 81 new SF&F titles offered to them were by women, which was fairly typical.
* Wil Wheaton: The Stairwell
“Have you guys ever seen The Stairwell?” He asked us. I could tell by the way that he said it that The Stairwell was capitalized, and important.
* Cracked.com 4 Things No One Tells You About Having OCD
It's not like on TV.
* Tumblr: Wholock AU: The Doctor tries to solve the mystery of Sherlock Holmes, the detective who keeps dying.
This is awesome.
And I posted a coupon for Barnes and Noble which is good until October 14.
links
* The Oatmeal: Christopher Columbus was Awful, But This Guy Was Not
to go with:
* Cracked.com: 6 Ridiculous Lies You Believe About the Founding of America
* Cheryl Morgan: Women in SF&F: The Cycle of Negative Feedback
So here’s what I think happens. The editors at the big publishers are probably nervous about buying SF&F by women (unless they can pass it off as YA or "Dark Fantasy") because they know how hard they’ll have to fight for such books within the company. If the books do get bought, the publicity department will be reluctant to allocate funds to them, because they think that SF&F by women doesn’t sell. When the sales staff visit the bookstore buyers, they don’t waste time pushing the SF&F books by women, because they think that they won’t sell. The note we got back from Waterstones said that in September only 6 of the 81 new SF&F titles offered to them were by women, which was fairly typical.
* Wil Wheaton: The Stairwell
“Have you guys ever seen The Stairwell?” He asked us. I could tell by the way that he said it that The Stairwell was capitalized, and important.
* Cracked.com 4 Things No One Tells You About Having OCD
It's not like on TV.
* Tumblr: Wholock AU: The Doctor tries to solve the mystery of Sherlock Holmes, the detective who keeps dying.
This is awesome.
October 10, 2013
Coupon
Let me see if this will work:
I got sent a Barnes and Noble coupon in email with the instructions to share it with as many people as possible, so I am sharing it here. It's 20% off any one item (Nooks and Nook Books excluded), either print the coupon out for a store or online use the coupon code FRIENDFAM, before October 14.
The coupon is here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/email/print_nav.asp?r=1&PID=48087&cm_em=bh532@suddenlink.net&cm_mmc=Non-Member-_-Coupon-_-131010_NM_COU_DC_GENERIC_NM-_-NA
I would appreciate it if you used it on one of my books! But if you don't want to no pressure, just get yourself something nice.
(My books are here on B&N on this list. Coupon doesn't work for NookBooks (my older ones are pretty cheap anyway), and it didn't say about audiobooks, so I don't know.)
***
I also have an interview on RisingShadow.net about Razor's Edge and Emilie and the Hollow World.
I got sent a Barnes and Noble coupon in email with the instructions to share it with as many people as possible, so I am sharing it here. It's 20% off any one item (Nooks and Nook Books excluded), either print the coupon out for a store or online use the coupon code FRIENDFAM, before October 14.
The coupon is here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/email/print_nav.asp?r=1&PID=48087&cm_em=bh532@suddenlink.net&cm_mmc=Non-Member-_-Coupon-_-131010_NM_COU_DC_GENERIC_NM-_-NA
I would appreciate it if you used it on one of my books! But if you don't want to no pressure, just get yourself something nice.
(My books are here on B&N on this list. Coupon doesn't work for NookBooks (my older ones are pretty cheap anyway), and it didn't say about audiobooks, so I don't know.)
***
I also have an interview on RisingShadow.net about Razor's Edge and Emilie and the Hollow World.
October 9, 2013
Lots of Things
I realized it's been a while since I posted something substantial. I've been having some depression and anxiety issues lately, and am concentrating a lot on trying not to inflict those on innocent bystanders. I'd really like to see the movie Gravity, but I think it's tailor-made to send my anxiety through the roof. Especially after getting the VIP tour of NASA a while back, meeting people who work there, etc.
(Years ago, I had some problems watching the movie The Abyss in the theater, because I worked for a group at the university supporting a research drilling ship, and the ship in the movie that has the crane break off and hit the submersible looked at lot like it, and I knew if the real ship sunk that's what it would look like. It didn't help that at one point the real ship almost did sink, in a bad storm where it lost almost all of its stabilizers.)
Anyway, I've still been getting some work done. I sent the first drafts of a story and an article off to the editors. I've got another story where I'm trying to figure out if it will be short enough for the anthology that might be interested or if it needs to become a novella and go somewhere else. I got the first sixty or so pages of a new book written and sent off to my agent to see what she thinks.
Stuff that's out or that I have coming out:
* The Wizard Hunters is coming out in Audiobook on October 21 from Tantor Audio. (The Element of Fire and The Death of the Necromancer are already out in audio.) They're all available in CDs and MP3s and through Audible. The rest of the books are coming soon.
* I have an audio story on Podcastle. "Thorns" narrated by C.S.E. Cooney.
* The three Books of the Raksura are out in a discounted ebook bundle, on all the Amazons, Nook, and Kobo.
* Emilie and the Sky World is coming out in March 2014 and is already showing up for preorder.
* And Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge is out.
New Books by other people:
* Hero by Alethea Kontis
Rough-and-tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?"
* Fixed: A Gin and Tonic Mystery by L. A. Kornetsky
A professional problem solver, Ginny Mallard can't resist a call for help. And try as he may, Seattle bartender Teddy Tonica is powerless to resist a challenge. They may not agree on much—Teddy prefers bar cat Mistress Penny, while Gin's shar-pei, Georgie, is her constant companion—but these friendly rivals make perfect sleuthing partners.
* BBC Close encounters of the Arab kind Have you ever heard of Alif the Unseen, computer hacker and recipient of an ancient scroll written by mythological spirits?
Or Ajwan, a teenager on an intergalactic quest to save her son from the clutches of those who wish to convert him into a super-warrior?
Probably you haven't. Possibly you should have. Introducing the rapidly evolving face of Arabic science fiction literature.
Some links, collected from various places:
* Salon: My embarrassing picture went viral When strangers mocked me for my weight, it was a lesson in Internet cruelty, mean girls -- and fighting back
* Seeking the Next Jane Foster MARVEL’S THOR: THE DARK WORLD - ULTIMATE MENTOR ADVENTURE aims to empower girls ages 14 and up in grades 9-12 to embark on a journey that will allow them to explore their potential in the world of STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Through the collaborative efforts of MARVEL, the National Academy of Sciences, and Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., girls will have a chance to go out into the real world and ask successful women in STEM fields about what they do, how they got where they are…and how others can follow in their footsteps.
* Kate Elliott: The Status Quo Does Not Need World Building But complaints about depicting a detailed world in fantasy have potential sexist, colonialist, and racist implications. These implications are more damaging and pernicious than the alleged disadvantages imposed on literature by detailed world-building.
* Another woman author who disappeared and was never heard of again: Anna Katharine Green Anna Katharine Green (November 11, 1846 – April 11, 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories. Green has been called "the mother of the detective novel."
* Los Angeles Times: How not to say the wrong thing It works in all kinds of crises – medical, legal, even existential. It's the 'Ring Theory' of kvetching. The first rule is comfort in, dump out.
(Years ago, I had some problems watching the movie The Abyss in the theater, because I worked for a group at the university supporting a research drilling ship, and the ship in the movie that has the crane break off and hit the submersible looked at lot like it, and I knew if the real ship sunk that's what it would look like. It didn't help that at one point the real ship almost did sink, in a bad storm where it lost almost all of its stabilizers.)
Anyway, I've still been getting some work done. I sent the first drafts of a story and an article off to the editors. I've got another story where I'm trying to figure out if it will be short enough for the anthology that might be interested or if it needs to become a novella and go somewhere else. I got the first sixty or so pages of a new book written and sent off to my agent to see what she thinks.
Stuff that's out or that I have coming out:
* The Wizard Hunters is coming out in Audiobook on October 21 from Tantor Audio. (The Element of Fire and The Death of the Necromancer are already out in audio.) They're all available in CDs and MP3s and through Audible. The rest of the books are coming soon.
* I have an audio story on Podcastle. "Thorns" narrated by C.S.E. Cooney.
* The three Books of the Raksura are out in a discounted ebook bundle, on all the Amazons, Nook, and Kobo.
* Emilie and the Sky World is coming out in March 2014 and is already showing up for preorder.
* And Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge is out.
New Books by other people:
* Hero by Alethea Kontis
Rough-and-tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?"
* Fixed: A Gin and Tonic Mystery by L. A. Kornetsky
A professional problem solver, Ginny Mallard can't resist a call for help. And try as he may, Seattle bartender Teddy Tonica is powerless to resist a challenge. They may not agree on much—Teddy prefers bar cat Mistress Penny, while Gin's shar-pei, Georgie, is her constant companion—but these friendly rivals make perfect sleuthing partners.
* BBC Close encounters of the Arab kind Have you ever heard of Alif the Unseen, computer hacker and recipient of an ancient scroll written by mythological spirits?
Or Ajwan, a teenager on an intergalactic quest to save her son from the clutches of those who wish to convert him into a super-warrior?
Probably you haven't. Possibly you should have. Introducing the rapidly evolving face of Arabic science fiction literature.
Some links, collected from various places:
* Salon: My embarrassing picture went viral When strangers mocked me for my weight, it was a lesson in Internet cruelty, mean girls -- and fighting back
* Seeking the Next Jane Foster MARVEL’S THOR: THE DARK WORLD - ULTIMATE MENTOR ADVENTURE aims to empower girls ages 14 and up in grades 9-12 to embark on a journey that will allow them to explore their potential in the world of STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Through the collaborative efforts of MARVEL, the National Academy of Sciences, and Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., girls will have a chance to go out into the real world and ask successful women in STEM fields about what they do, how they got where they are…and how others can follow in their footsteps.
* Kate Elliott: The Status Quo Does Not Need World Building But complaints about depicting a detailed world in fantasy have potential sexist, colonialist, and racist implications. These implications are more damaging and pernicious than the alleged disadvantages imposed on literature by detailed world-building.
* Another woman author who disappeared and was never heard of again: Anna Katharine Green Anna Katharine Green (November 11, 1846 – April 11, 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories. Green has been called "the mother of the detective novel."
* Los Angeles Times: How not to say the wrong thing It works in all kinds of crises – medical, legal, even existential. It's the 'Ring Theory' of kvetching. The first rule is comfort in, dump out.
